Jet2holidays explores the love that we have for two things that shoppers love to buy more than anything else: consumer products and travel experiences...

Everyone loves to splash the cash every now and again, but is it worth it? Putting the occasional misspend aside, we may not be as happy with one purchase as we are another. But is there a “golden rule” worth following? After putting in some research, Jet2holidays thinks it’s onto something.

According to the company’s own sales patterns, January is one of the most popular times for people to buy holidays. It’s a worthwhile venture, too, as a 20-year research project claims it’s the best-value investment for true contentment.

Putting in 20 years of research, Dr Thomas Gilovich – a psychology professor at the prestigious Cornell University in the state of New York – found that investing in “things”, while initially enjoyable, creates a faster-fading glee.

It’s not without its merits, either. Three core reasons for this included:

Possessions are much easier to compare to those owned by other people, and often, theirs is better than yours.

People get used to possessions quickly, and the excitement is known to wear off.

The bar is raised regularly, meaning a new piece of technology may not be new in two or three months – starting the cycle again.

Jet2holidays created the below infographic to further explore this phenomenon. Do you agree or disagree? Let us know…